Gray-sama and the Temple of Confusion
by thirdorigin
Summary: Or: how to turn somebody else's mission into mess in three simple steps.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** I hope it will make you smile!

If you find any errors and have a spare minute, please PM me, 'cause I'm trying to improve :)

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><p><strong>Gray-sama and the Temple of Confusion<strong>

**Part I**

Juvia let the falling stones come through her Water Body, then hit the attacking giant lizard-weasels with Water Slicer. Most of them stepped back into the corridor of the old temple, but they were nowhere near retreating.

„Gajeel-kun?" she called, never stopping flooding them with her Water. „Lily?"

„Clear here," shouted Exceed from somewhere to her right.

„I'm fine," Gajeel's voice came from behind her through the dust, rough and irritated. „But those bitches broke down the ceiling and blocked our way out – oh, shit."

His last words came with a very loud _thud_ and high-pitched squirming of weasels. Juvia sent a Water Nebula into the never-ending flood of her opponents and risked a peek over her arm, to see Gajeel jumping back in her direction and a big pile of stones bursting out behind him along with a fragment of the wall.

„Fire Dragon's Wing!" came a shout through the falling rubble.

„Okay, not blocked anymore." Gajeel announced.

„Natsu-san!" She said, relieved. That was unexpected, but in a good way - and if Natsu-san was here, maybe Gray-sama too? Her heart immediately started to flutter in expectation. She squinted her eyes to look for him through the dust and flames.

„Oi, oi," Lily patted her head, floating over her in his little form. „Lizards, Juvia-san!"

„Oh, right." She sent them a bunch of Slicers, while Gajeel crushed a group of them with his iron fist, not even turning to them.

„Salamander, what'ya doing here?" he asked, coughing.

„Gajeel!" Natsu was surprised.

„And Juvia," added Lucy, standing beside him.

„And Panther-Lily!" exclaimed Happy, flying over their heads. „We're looking for the Statuette of Spiteful Malevolence!"

„Yeah," Natsu added. „It was supposed to be at the altar, but we didn't find it. I wonder if those lizards took it?"

„Don't worry, we have it!" Juvia shouted, countering another attack along with Lily, who turned into the warrior again. „We only have to get out of here."

„What are we waiting for?" hissed Gajeel, pulling her back by the collar. She threw a last big Nebula to stop them at least for a minute, then turned and started to run in the opposite direction. Ahead of her Lucy summoned Aries and drown the weasels in heaps of Fluffy Wool.

„Good thinking, Lucy!" shouted Natsu, running along with them. They sprinted through ruined corridors, up until the big chamber with white marble columns covered with moss. Dragon Slayers brought two of them down to block the way for lizard-weasels.

Lucy huffed and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

„I had no idea you guys were here too!"

„Gajeel-kun and Lily and Juvia are on the job," Juvia informed her.

„So are we!"

„Is Gra - "

„Yeah, yeah, nice chat and all, but we have to go." Gajeel interrupted the water mage, pulling her by an arm towards another corridor. Why was he so impatient? She wanted to tell him it was rude, but then the sound of heavy boots came from the right.

„Juvia! Gajeel!" exclaimed surprised Erza, coming from behind the corner of one of corridors. Just after her, to Juvia's delight, her beloved Gray-sama followed, his wonderfully muscled chest already bare and up for her to admire. He smiled slightly and nodded to her, and familiar feeling of utter happiness and overwhelming love for him rose deep in her and filled her whole body, making her head light and dizzy. She smiled broadly and clasped her hands in front of her, while Gajeel cursed quietly under his breath.

„Yeah, they're on the job too!" Lucy was telling the Titania. „And they have the Statuette, so we don't have to look for it anymore."

„Gray-sama!" Juvia started in his direction to greet him, but was abruptly stopped in place by Gajeel's decisive grip. „Gajeel-kun?" She turned to look at him, confused.

„Juvia, think." he said, frowning at her. „It's all I ask you. I know you can."

She stared in his eyes, perplexed. Then turned to Gray-sama, who also seemed to be processing something. Then back to Gajeel.

„Oh," she said, when it finally sank in.

„Wait a minute," Erza said, laying her hand on the hilt of the sword. „They can't be - "

„Exactly," Gajeel hissed, running down the nearest corridor and pulling Juvia after him. Lily followed, flying over their heads.

„Hired by the same client as we!" Titania finished.

„Dammit," Natsu was saying behind them. „I didn't think about it!"

The floor suddenly started to be slippery and Juvia almost stumbled, but managed to change it to the slide forward. Gajeel wasn't so lucky and fell down with a loud _thud_.

„Gajeel-kun!" she helped him up, noticing that the floor turned to ice. „Oh."

Gajeel cursed and hit it with his fist, breaking the ice into million tiny pieces. „Run!"

Juvia peeked over her arm to see all their team already following after her and Gajeel. „Lily!" she called and threw her bag up to the Exceed. „Take it! And we should split!"

„You are right," Gajeel admitted. „I'm going left. Lily - "

„Understood!" Exceed shouted, flying out through the nearest window.

„Hey!" Natsu exclaimed behind them. „He has it! Happy!"

„Aye Sir!" Fire Dragon Slayer and his cat followed outside after Lily.

But Juvia didn't really had time to observe them – she exchanged the last parting look with Gajeel, silently wishing him luck, and turned right, sprinting as fast as she could.

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><p>Erza suddenly came to a halt, almost causing Gray to bump into her.<p>

„I'm going after Gajeel," she announced. „Juvia is on you, guys."

„What?" Gray protested.

„I don't want to fight with Juvia!" Lucy said simultaneously.

„Me neither!" he exclaimed. Sure, he would have no problem to fight with her for fun, or sport, but he had mixed feelings when it came to battling her for real. Like, he could hurt her or something. The sole thought made him cringe.

Erza flashed him a death glare and a cloud of darkness started to emerge of her head. „Well, if you want to," she said in a morbid voice, „I may go after her."

He jumped back a little, feeling hair standing at the back of his head. „No need!" he assured her quickly. „I'm going!" He wouldn't like Juvia to have to deal with _that._

„It looks like Lily has it anyway," continued Lucy, undisturbed. „And they were here first, so, maybe we shouldn't..."

„Lucy, do you want to abandon the job?" Erza looked at her incredulously. „Our reputation is on the line! Not to mention your rental money."

„Yeah, that..."

„We're not going to just let them go with it! And you don't know if Lily has it, maybe Juvia just wanted us to think so."

„Well, but - " Lucy was saying, but Gray didn't listen to her anymore, because Erza furiously gestured to him to go after water mage already, and his legs kind of reacted on their own.

That's what you get for ten years of conditioning - maybe he should work on that? Someday later, though.

Now he ran down the stone corridors, looking for any signs of Juvia – which just weren't there. Some might think it would be enough for him to call her name, and she would come; but he knew better than that. Yes, sometimes she might have behaved like a happy puppy or drunken bunny or some other crazy, fluffy creature, but she sure as hell was more than that. No free lunch today, he told himself.

How was he supposed to catch up with her? She could go left, she could go right, she could hide somewhere in one of the chambers he passed, and he wasn't a Dragon Slayer to find her by the smell.

Interesting, anyway, how would she smell to a Dragon Slayer? Would she smell like water or like a normal person? Maybe like a sea or rain, or water lilies, or... He shook his head wildly, trying to focus.

Then he heard it – silent murmur of the masses of water. It came from below, so he guessed it must be an underground river. Surely Juvia would head there – both on her instincts and strategic thinking. He took the nearest stairs down.

The stairs seemed to went for miles and the lower he got, the darker it became. When he finally reached the lowest level, he could barely see anything – only the faint glimmer and steady movement of the river. Moving as silent as he could, he looked left and right, but the narrow pathway going by the riverbank looked deserted. Still, Juvia could be just further down the path, she could stand plastered to the wall, motionless, she could hide in the river itself...

He searched his pockets and found a little lacrima-light. It would tell his presence and position right away, but still increased his chances of finding her. He turned it on, looked again – in vain - for any signs of life, and decided to go right.

He didn't even manage to get fifteen meters into the corridor, when a sudden movement at his side caught his attention.

„Gah!" he exclaimed, bewildered, turning to it and jumping away, and then he slipped on mossy stones and lost his balance, almost falling into the river.

Almost, because someone pulled him back to safety. „Be careful, Gray-sama," Juvia said, still holding his arm. „It's wet here."

„Oh, Juvia." He exhaled in relief. „Thank you."

„Don't mention it, Gray-sama," she smiled broadly. „Juvia is happy to see you."

„But shouldn't you rather push me into this water? You know..."

„Juvia knows." she looked at him seriously. „Juvia thinks work is important, but there are some limits. And she knows Gray-sama wouldn't like to be soaked in that." She gestured towards the river. Truly, it looked rather ominous and unappealing, like a fluid darkness.

„Thanks," he repeated, scratching his head. And how was he supposed to fight her now? He clipped the lacrima to his belt, to free his hands in any case. It created a sphere of a warm, yellow glow. „Listen - "

„Gray-sama," she interrupted him, looking like mesmerized at his chest, her hands raised to her lips and features morphed into an expression of fascinated awe. „You are... s-smeared."

„Ah?" he looked down, to see a smudge of dirt on his skin. „Well, you're right. So - "

Juvia's lip twitched and she slowly ran her fingers along the smear, touching him very gently, but still tangibly. He gasped and jumped away from her, almost far enough to fall into the river again.

„Gray-sama!" Juvia pulled him back once more. „The pathway is too narrow for that."

Gray pressed his forehead into his palm. „Wha- What are you..."

„Juvia is sorry," she said, looking down. „She just got hypnotized by it! She's sorry!"

„Okay," he sighed, studying her face – she seemed to be genuinely regretting her half-conscious actions, and it was also his fault for not being able to keep his damned shirt on. „It's okay, just don't do it again." He tried to reassure her. Then he blinked, noticing something. „You are smeared yourself," he informed her matter-of-factly.

„Oh? Where?" She jumped a bit and brought her hands to her cheeks, looking terrified, as if it it would really matter.

„Like, here." he showed her on his own face, but she started to wipe her cheek on a totally different spot. „No, not there, higher, and more to... Urgh." He lost his patience, gently took her hand and placed it over the smudge.

Juvia stared at him wide-eyed. „Th-thank you," she whispered. Gray looked away, feeling his face getting warmer. He sometimes (well, maybe even often) couldn't help getting flustered around her like that, and it wasn't helping that they were alone, in this dark place, bathed in the ethereal light... Still, without the light, it would have been even worse.

Gray sighed deeply. Business, he was here on business, he reminded himself.

„So..." he started. „Would you tell me where the Statuette is? Do you have it? Hey!" He exclaimed, because Juvia suddenly jumped to his left and headed for the river. He grasped her quickly and pushed her back to the wall, holding her arms firmly (but not _too _firmly, because, dammit, she was a girl and all that). He prepared himself to freeze her if she tried to turn into water on him, but luckily she decided against it. Instead, she just fidgeted and stuttered, all classic Juvia stuff.

„G-Gray-sama..." She looked up at him, all flushed, and smiled shyly in a way that almost made him let her go. „Gray-sama chased Juvia all the way here..." She whispered, licking her lips. „And now he caught her... Ah..." She clasped her hands in front of her, while, without doubt, some wildly vivid images were sprinting through that impossible head of hers.

It took him all his self-control not to jump away from her, but hell, if she would regain her senses and went into this river, he was as good as fried. So he just looked away and relaxed his grip a little.

„It's about the work, okay?" he said softly. „Where is the Statuette?" He glanced back at her. Some of the mist of day-dream slowly lifted from her eyes and she was starting to look sorry again.

„Juvia would rather not say..." she whispered. „Uh-uhm, Gray-sama, when you hold Juvia like that, it's so... It's so..." She fidgeted again and her face rapidly changed colors from red to pale to red again. Gray felt the rush of blood to his own cheeks – he had to admit, when he hold her closely like that, it _was_ _so._

„Listen, I don't want to hurt you, so maybe you could just tell me..." he told her, trying to focus on the task. But Juvia didn't seem to hear his words at all.

„Mmmh... Gray-sama..." she sighed, and stroked his chest gently, smiling in utter happiness.

„J-Juvia! Don't!" he grasped her arms tighter and shook her delicately, pressing her more into the wall, as far from him as he could manage. „Just don't!"

She looked up to him, all wide-eyed, surprised and shocked, as her reverie suddenly got torn apart. Something clenched in his chest at her distressed expression.

„Be a good girl," he pleaded desperately.

„Sorry," she whispered, straightening up and trying to get even further from him. „Juvia is sorry. She knows she shouldn't have done that." She paled a bit and looked at him with such an affection, sadness and longing, he couldn't take it anymore. He shut his eyes tightly and turned away from her, trying to think only about Erza's furious face – but it didn't help. He exhaled slowly and loosened his grip completely, his hands falling limp along his sides.

He could hear her breathing slowing down, and he knew she wasn't moving. A minute passed and he risked a peek - she looked thoughtful, quietly muttering something to herself and looking at the floor somewhere around his boots. Then she quickly glanced at him, swung left, jumped right and to the river.

But he couldn't just let her go, could he? He caught her in the last possible moment and brought her back to the wall, holding her tightly. „No," he said. She just stared at him.

They stood like that for a long while – at least to him it felt awfully long, but he didn't know what to do, and she was just silent and motionless, except for her chest rising with each breath. Finally he managed to come back to his senses.

„So, where is the Statuette?" he asked casually.

„Juvia would rather not say," she informed him yet again.

„Maybe we will bargain for it." he proposed.

„Bargain?"

„Yeah. What would you want for it?" He studied her face – but of course he well knew what she wanted. „Would you tell me where it is if I promised we would go on a date?" He was probably getting into morally grey area, but it wasn't, like, evil, right? And it was still better than fighting Juvia for real (especially that she went into kind of paralysis and he wasn't sure if she would fight back), or dealing with angry Erza.

„Really?" Juvia's eyes gleamed and she smiled broadly. „Juvia would love to – No." Her face fell as she looked down again. „Juvia cannot do this. She doesn't want to disappoint Gajeel-kun and Panther-Lily. Sorry, Gray-sama."

„What if I kissed you?" said some strange part of Gray, surprising him completely and causing his heart to stop.

Juvia gave him a long look, which didn't help to straighten his thinking. „Gray-sama can kiss Juvia," she said softly, light blush adorning her cheeks.

Well then, if it was it, he had to do this, but... But... He felt a sudden pang of nervousness. It wasn't as he had ever kissed anyone before. And where the hell did it come from?

But it didn't matter now. He leaned into her and gently pressed his lips to hers – that was supposed to be it.

Only that it wasn't. This damned kiss seemed to gain a life of itself and it turned into something long and warm, and sweet, and totally overwhelming, as Juvia embraced him and licked his lip, sending shivers down his spine, and he groaned, and pulled her closer, and licked her too, his mind getting completely blank. And it went like that for hours and hours.

When he finally pulled away from her, he was utterly confused. They both panted quietly, trying to catch their breath. Then Juvia leaned back to the wall and sent him a look that, well, not that he saw it anywhere before, but he thought that must be how the lust looks like, hazy, dark and enticing, and it stirred him even more. But then she blinked and came back to her normal affectionate expression, and he felt a wave of relief mixed with kind of regret that he couldn't really understand.

„Listen, I..." he swallowed, not sure how to look at her. Then he shook his head - it was all business, right? „Tell me where the Statuette is."

„Juvia would rather not do that." she answered, biting her lip.

„What do you mean, you'd not do that?" He glanced at her, surprised. „You said you'd tell me if I... if I kissed you."

„Juvia never said that," she told him, looking straight into his eyes.

Gray wanted to protest, but he thought back to their conversation – which seemed to take place ages ago – and had to admit, she was right. „You..." he shook his head, unbeliving. „You tricked me."

„Juvia thinks," she said in a thoughtful tone, her eyes gleaming strangely - and for a second she looked like a being out of this world. „That Gray-sama tricked himself."

And was there ever anything more true than that? He almost laughed at himself - his own body had betrayed him. Not only that, but part of his mind seemed to be in it too. This place, this light, this girl – it was all messing with his head.

„This is it," he said. He was frustrated with it all, really. „We're not going to play anymore."

„What do you – oh!" she wanted to ask something, but he already started to tickle her sides. She laughed like crazy. „Gray-sama, stop it!" she managed, already flushed, barely catching her breath.

„Like hell I will," he muttered, while she writhed in his grasp and fell to her knees. He went to the ground with her, feeling his pants immediately taking moist from the wet moss. „Where is the Statuette, huh?"

Juvia just laughed, hiding her head in his chest and trying to keep his hands away from her, but he was stronger. „Stop – please - " she squealed, shuddering against him, but he could tell she was still enjoying it. He smirked.

„I won't," he repeated. „Where is it?" She slid even lower, curling up on the mossy floor in the fits of laughter. „Why do I even ask? I bet you have it. You have it in your Water Body."

He stopped for a second and looked at her. She opened one eye and looked back, panting heavily.

„You don't even try to deny it, do you? Give it to me." He attacked her again, causing her cap to fall off while she wriggled in his arms.

„Gray-sama... Juvia cannot breathe."

„Give it to me and I will stop."

„Juvia - cannot - do this..." she giggled wildly, placing her head on his lap and smearing some mud from her hair to his pants – not that they were very clean in the first place. It was crazy what he was doing, he knew, but it strangely helped him relieve his confusion, his frustration, the tension that he didn't want there, and weird things in his mind that he didn't quite know how to place. So he didn't stop.

„It's because you are so sneaky," he said, while she stopped to fight with him and covered her face instead, trying to suppress her laughter. „You are a sneaky girl. You just sneak in where nobody expects you and do your work, huh?"

She looked up to him, her eyes all teary and glistening. „What do you – ohh." He interrupted her with another round of giggles.

„You know what I mean," he informed her. „You know that." He stopped his attacks and let that sink in for a minute.

„Give it to me," he repeated patiently.

„Gray-sama," she said, breathing heavily, while her eyes deepened and darkened. „Juvia lo - " he covered her mouth with his hand and gave her a warning look. He didn't want her to say that. It terrified him.

But when he took his hand from her, she finished anyway. „She loves you," she told him softly. He froze, looking at her blankly. Why did she had to say it? It just made something break in him. What was he going to do with this girl?

But, right now, it was simple, really. He tickled her and she curled up against his thighs again. „See," he said, „That's what I'm talking about. You are doing this on purpose."

„What purpose?" she protested weakly. „Juvia has no - "

„To throw me for a loop, that is your purpose." She chuckled and shook her head helplessly. „And you are all dirty," he added, throwing away a string of moss that got plastered to her cheek. Truly, she was all in mud and moss, and slime, her cap was lost, her hair was damp and tangled, and tears of laughter streamed down her cheeks. Yet in the middle of this mess she still managed to look glorious, and for some reason it brought to his mind the sensation of warmth on her lips when he kissed her. He sighed deeply and shut his eyes.

„Gray-sama," she said affectionately, her muscles relaxing in his grasp. „You know it is not true."

„I don't know anything," he told her. „Only that I'm going to tickle you until you give me this freakin' statuette of evil nonsense whatever." He attacked her again.

„Gray?"

He lifted his head to see Lucy, standing near the staircase and looking at them with very round eyes. „What are you doing?" she asked, bewildered.

„I'm negotiating," he told her calmly. Lucy came closer, still eyeing him with suspicion.

„Shouldn't you fight her, or something?" she demanded.

Gray shrugged. „What for?" he asked, starting to tickle Juvia again before she managed to collect herself after the last round.

„Erza specifically warned me," Lucy said cautiously. „To make sure you are not going too much gentleman-y on Juvia."

Gray stopped in mid-tickle to look at Lucy. Then he switched his gaze to Juvia, lying sprawled half on his lap, half on the wet floor, all covered in mud, with her dressed rolled up her legs and in general state of dishevelment, helplessly shuddering in little fits of giggles.

„I think, Lucy," he said slowly, turning back to her. „You have a very strange idea of what _gentlemen_ means."

Lucy blinked and seemed to be lost in thoughts for a second. „Hey," she said finally, her eyes flickering mischievously. „Can I do this too?"

„No!" Juvia squealed, curling up even tighter and pressing herself more into Gray.

„Yeah, sure, help yourself," Gray gestured Lucy towards the other girl.

Lucy smiled broadly and started to tickle Juvia. The water mage pushed herself towards him, trying to get away from Lucy, but he kept her in place. „Stop it," she laughed. „It's too much!"

„You know what, this feels great," Lucy said, smiling like mad. Gray wondered if he should maybe start to worry. „This is for trying to drown me. This is for giving me tabasco instead of tea - "

„Juvia would rather flip than give Lucy her Earl Gray!" the girl cried through the bursts of laughter. Gray rolled his eyes.

„And this is for the general love rival nonsense!" Lucy exclaimed triumphantly, attacking Juvia with renewed fury. „Will you promise to stop that?"

Gray scratched his head. This was getting out of hand -

„Juvia will never give up her rights to Gray-sama!"

He jumped a bit, surprised. „Oi, what rights!? You have no - "

„And no-one asks you to!" Lucy shouted. „I'm not interested in him, you hear me?" She stopped tickling and looked up to him. „Sorry, Gray."

„Why would you be sorry?" He was starting to get lost in this girly absurd. Besides, Lucy seemed to have no mercy. „Maybe you should stop this - "

„Right, like Juvia was going to believe that," the water mage looked at the other girl mockingly. „But Lucy should know, that Gray-sama kissed Juvia, not Lucy - "

„Whoa!" Lucy gasped.

„Don't just go around blabbering about it to everyone!" he shouted, terrified.

„Sorry, Gray-sama..."

„But... wait... Did you really - " Lucy looked at him with eyes like plates. Gray send her the best death glare he could manage, and she squealed.

„You better be quiet too." he told her in the icy tone.

„Ohh, Gray-sama, you're so dreamy when you get scary like that..."

„I won't say anything." promised Lucy with a very thin voice, shivering while he was sending daggers to her with his gaze.

„Good," he said. „Otherwise you might find yourself with a _very_ cold feet one morning, if you know what I mean."

„Gray-sama shouldn't mess around Lucy's feet," Juvia fumed. He turned his death glare to her.

„And you," he said. „Stop with this nonsense and give us the statuette."

„Are you going to punish Juvia if she doesn't, Gray-sama?" She beamed, clasping her hands by her chin and looking at him in awe. Gray felt his face getting incredibly warm.

„No!" he exclaimed, turning his gaze away and trying to get a number of disturbing images out of his head. „This approach doesn't work on you too well, does it."

„It does!" she squealed excitedly.

„Not the way I want it to!"

„Wait, so she has it?" Lucy regained her composure.

„Yeah, I think so." That seemed quite sensible to him – if she could stuff _him_ in her Water Body, sure as hell some stupid statuette would fit there too.

„Give it to us!" Lucy said, beginning to tickle Juvia again. „I have to pay the rent!"

„Hey - " he started to protest, when Juvia rolled a bit too high on his lap to his liking, but then he felt a tug at his belt and everything went completely dark. Before he could react, he felt the girl moving away from him, and then he heard loud _splash_ and Lucy's surprised scream.

„Juvia won't give it to you!" the water mage announced. Gray managed to recover his lacrima-light and turned it on again, to see both girls wrestling in the middle of the river – Lucy completely soaked, and Juvia just as usual. „But Lucy should give up on Gray-sama!" she was saying, trying to pull Lucy down in the dark waves.

„I can't give up on something I'm not even pursuing!" Lucy exclaimed, fighting back – and, Gray noticed, she wasn't completely helpless, even at such a disadvantage. Maybe she learned something observing him and Natsu, he thought, proud at his young apprentice. Lucy stopped wriggling Juvia's arm to look at him. „Sorry, Gray."

„Eh, whatever." he said weakly, standing up. Maybe he should go check up on Erza, he thought in accompaniment of huffs and squeals and splashes – but then he heard a sound of ripped fabric, so he decided he would be better off staying here. He leaned on the stony wall and enjoyed the landscape, squinting his eyes to see better in the dim light.

It didn't last long until he felt a familiar presence, leaning at the wall to his left. „Hey," Erza said, biting a pear nonchalantly. She was all clad in dust and had a few scratches on her face and arms, but overall she looked like a very satisfied cat – and very dangerous one. „Are they fighting for you, or what?"

„Erm..." He scratched his head. „Juvia _probably _does... As for Lucy, I've got no idea what she's doing."

„I'm fighting for friendship!" Lucy exclaimed, pulling at Juvia's hair before getting hit with a high wave.

„You're very convincing!" Erza encouraged her.

„Thanks!"

„Want some?" Erza asked Gray casually, motioning her pear towards him.

„Sure, why not." He took it from her and ate a bit, proudly (and not without some esthetic satisfaction) observing Lucy's success in tearing off another part of Juvia's dress. Then he remembered something.

„So," he started warily, examining Erza's content expression. „Have you found Gajeel?"

Erza laughed in a way that caused both fighting girls to stop and look at her wide-eyed.

„Have I, indeed." She said, smiling so voraciously that he felt hair on his nape standing up. „Well, I can tell you with full confidence, he doesn't have the statuette."

There was a minute of utter silence during which he could only hear some distant sound of falling droplets.

„Y- You know, Erza," he said, swallowing heavily. „I- I'm pretty sure Lily has it."

„Are you?" Erza turned to him quickly and he pressed himself into the wall as far as he could.

„E- Erza," Lucy finally managed to stutter out, „What - What exactly did you do to Gajeel?"

Erza smiled broadly and shrugged. „He just didn't want to speak sincerely with me." she said matter-of-factly, wiping her hands off her skirt. „So, now that we explained this, let's - " she said, turning her attention to Juvia and putting her hand on the hilt of sword.

But Juvia didn't wait for her action – she squealed, jumped back, sending a giant wave into all of them, and when Gray opened his eyes again, she was nowhere to be seen.

Erza cursed. „Gray!" She shouted, gesturing towards the river. „Freeze it!"

He started to gather his magic power to do it, but he stopped himself midway. „I - I don't want to," he said quietly, crossing his arms on his chest.

„What did you say?" Erza's brow shot incredibly high on her forehead.

„I just don't want to!" he exclaimed, turning his head away from her. „There are some limits! I'm not going to do this!"

Erza hissed and turned away from him, ex-quipping into Sea Empress Armor and trying to raise as much water from the river as she could – but Juvia was nowhere there.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Thanks for reading! Feedback is welcome.

Second part should be up within week or two.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:** Hey, so this is the last part. Took me some time, but I hope it turned out okay :)

* * *

><p><strong>Part II<strong>

Gray sighed and stretched against the trunk of giant oak. For the last two hours he had been carrying (or, in the end, dragging) half-conscious Gajeel from the old temple to the meadow in the forest, where Erza decided to place their improvised camp. Man, was he heavy – probably his bones were made of iron too.

But right now Gray could relax and enjoy two simple facts: first, it was Lucy, not him, who was patching countless injuries and bruises that Iron Dragon Slayer managed to gain today; and second, Erza was on the other side of fire than him.

It was long since they gave up on looking for Juvia – she seemed to vanish into thin air – but Erza was still sending evil glares at him. Yes, yes, they didn't complete the job because he somehow didn't want to freeze all the water ducts in the vicinity – but what was he to do? He sighed deeply, looking at the darkening skies.

He was just beginning to zone out, when nearby bushes started to move. "There you are!" Natsu exclaimed, coming out of it with a wide grin on his face. He had unconscious Lily hanging limply from his arm and Juvia's navy blue bag swinging on the shoulder.

"Aye!" Happy added, floating excitedly over his head.

"Took you long enough," Erza grumbled, barely raising her head to look at them.

"What's with Lily?" asked Lucy in a worried tone.

"He's just out of the magic power," the boy said, coming closer to the fire and gently placing Lily on the ground next to Gajeel. Then his eyes grew round and wide like plates. "Oi! What happened to Gajeel?"

"Erza happened," Gray whispered, his voice dripping with horror, and they simultaneously winced.

"I gave him a chance to give up. Three times." Erza said with tone full of regret. "But he didn't listen. Also, he didn't want to tell me where the Statuette is, _and_ he tried to eat my swords."

"It sounds rather reasonable..." Natsu scratched his head.

"I liked those swords!" Erza protested. "Anyway, did Lily have it?

"Nope," the Dragon Slayer said. "So I guess, it leaves Juvia?"

"Exactly," Erza bored her eyes into Gray in the most uncomfortable manner.

"And you guys are not going after her?" Natsu asked, puzzled.

"She seemed to kind of dissolute in water and we had no way to stop her." Lucy sighed. "There are many rivers around. Probably she just used them to run away."

"Couldn't Gray just freeze it?"

"Gray had a sudden attack of severe chivalry," Erza snarled, still drilling holes in him.

"Oh," Natsu looked at him with worried expression. "Sorry, man. It happens sometimes to me too."

"Rarely," Lucy sighed.

"No, really." protested the Dragon Slayer. "Often when I eat too much."

"It's not just my fault, okay?" Gray finally lost his patience. "It wasn't me who chose to perform water-wrestling with the water mage."

"I didn't chose it, she threw me into there," Lucy snapped. "And you didn't help me _at all_!"

"I had it under control until you came," Gray grumbled, crossing his arms and turning away from her.

"Yeah," Lucy gave him a doubtful look. "I saw how under control you had it."

He sent her a death glare, but this time she reciprocated with one of her own.

"Okay!" Erza said, interrupting their squinting contest. "Enough of that. We're not talking about this anymore. Unless..." she turned to Natsu. "Can't you find her by the smell?"

"Not if she's still in the water, sorry." The boy sniffed the air a few times. "Nothing."

"Then that's it." Erza announced and laid down on her back, arms under her head.

Natsu sighed. "Anyways, I'm worried about her. You guys won't believe what we found out," he said, taking Juvia's bag from his shoulder and rummaging through it. "Look. She's got a Gray voodoo doll!"

The thing did really somehow resemble him, Gray had to admit. It had ruffled, black plushie hair, an irritated plushie frown and an evident lack of any plushie shirt.

"Ufufufufu!" Happy giggled, covering his muzzle with paws. Natsu glanced cunningly at shocked Gray and pulled at one of mascot's arms.

"It doesn't work?" Natsu squinted at the other boy and started to twist plushie's limbs more and more furiously. "Maybe it needs some kind of activation?"

"Idiots," Gajeel growled weakly, opening one eye.

"Show me!" Happy demanded, taking the doll from Dragon Slayer's hands and fiddling with its legs, checking if it affects Gray in any way.

"Uh, guys..." Lucy said. "You know..."

"Oi, Happy! Give it back!" Natsu vigorously pulled the plushie by its head.

"No, Natsu! I want – Oops!"

There was a moment of silence, during which everyone contemplated a tearing in little doll's head and heaps of wool coming out of it.

"Great," Gajeel groaned finally. "Now she'll throw a fit."

"Erm..." Natsu brushed his hair, looking intensely at Gray's head. "But at least we're lucky that the voodoo mode didn't work."

"Give me that," Gray seethed, snatching the mascot from Natsu's hands. Whatever that thing was, it was in a way representing him, and it was pissing him off that its brain were spilling out of its head. He took Juvia's bag from Natsu, found some sewing appliances and started to mend the plushie.

Guess lately he was getting a little bit oversensitive in regards to seeing his own death.

"And this is not all," Natsu said, undisturbed. "We also found some dark incantations on Juvia's music lacrima."

"Why would you be listening to her lacrima?" Gajeel asked, visibly irritated.

"We were searching for the clues!"

"Aye!"

"Dark incantations...?" Lucy asked doubtfully.

"Yeah!" Natsu took the bag, pulled out little magical device and put attached headphones on the girl's head. "See for yourself," he said, pressing play.

"Kyah!" Lucy jumped immediately and threw the headphones away from her. "It's really scary!"

"Told ya!"

Gray growled, picking headphones up and putting them on. "Guys," he said after a moment. "It's just heavy metal."

"What's heavy metal?"

"Music!" Gray and Gajeel groaned in unison.

Natsu didn't seem convinced. "Do you think it's music, Lucy?" he whispered scenically.

"Not in my book." Lucy whined, massaging her ears.

"Yeah!" Natsu squinted at Gray. "Are you guys sure she isn't a cultist?"

Gray scowled at him, irritated to no end. "You know what, just leave this alone," he warned, stopping his attempts at stuffing the wool brain back into the plushie's head to pull Juvia's bag closer to him.

"Ah, whatever," Fire Dragon Slayer leaned against the tree. "I'm hungry, anyway. Do you have something to eat?"

"Erza found some pears, but we already ate them." Lucy told him apologetically.

"Maybe we'll go fishing then? What do you say, Happy?"

"Fishes! Aye, Sir!" Exceed bounced in the air, drooling at the thought.

"Come on then!" the boy said, and sprinted into the forest, Happy flying just behind him.

Gray was glad – those idiots were making too much fuss, and he was really tired. There was no sleep for him yet, though, as he still had to perform a delicate operation on a fluffy patient.

What was this thing, really? Sometimes Juvia was just a little bit terrifying. Maybe he shouldn't repair it, but rather destroy it; but even the thought of that felt so wrong. He sighed and went back to work - at least finally he managed to push most of the wool back into little guy's head and started to carefully stitch him back, when the loud sound similar to thunder interrupted him. Naturally, it came from the direction where Natsu and Happy went.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, already on her feet. "Happy!"

"Don't worry, Lucy," Gray said. "They probably just destroyed something, as usual."

"Gray is right," Erza added in a calming tone. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"But..." Lucy hesitated. "Maybe I'll better go check..."

She didn't manage to make more than a few steps into the forest, though, when they heard Happy's energetic voice.

"Erza, Erza!" he shouted, flying straight to her and bouncing in front of her face. "Are you mad at Juvia?"

"I'm not mad at Juvia," Erza said. "I was mad at _Gray_, but I'm getting over it already. Why would you ask?"

"Because we just met her and she pulled like ten kilo fishes out of the river! And," he added, excited beyond limits, "They're kinda good to eat already, because Natsu attacked her and the river boiled!"

"Did he win?" Erza's eyes gleamed.

"No, because she said she didn't have the Statuette anymore, and she just came back for Gajeel and Lily! But Natsu said we should ask you if you wanted to kill her before she comes here, even if she's a cultist! Because you're scary and you turned Gajeel into pulp!"

"I'm not that scary!" Erza protested. "Why does Natsu tell her such things? By all means, tell her to come."

Happy flew away, and soon they heard ruffling of leaves and voices coming from the bush.

"Natsu-san," Juvia was saying. "Juvia has no idea what are you talking about."

"You don't have to hide it, it's not that I mind," Natsu answered. "I just wanted to know if there's some school for that voodoo thing? We once had great fun with Lucy - Hey guys, look what we have!" he exclaimed, coming out of shrubs with arms full of fishes. Juvia followed him with another heap, looking rather worn out, but intact, Gray assessed.

"Hey, everyone," she said, seeming kind of unsure of herself. "Juvia is sorry she had to fight you – Oh, Gajeel-kun!" all the fishes she carried fell to the ground and she jumped to Iron Dragon Slayer's side to kneel by him. "Gajeel-kun! Are you okay? Please hold on! Are you alive?" She took his hand and squeezed it frantically, leaning over him. It was really unnecessary, Gray thought, still trying to repair plushie's head – it was kind of hard, because as he was sewing the tear, the wool constantly tried to spill out.

"Juvia..." Gajeel groaned, putting hand over his eyes theatrically. "Yes, I'm dying. I didn't have time to write the testament, but you can have my collection of samples..."

"Don't die – really? Juvia can have it?"

"Hell no!" he exclaimed, looking straight at her. "You didn't think I could really die from something like it, did you? I'm better than that. Besides, you're not going to ever get it, after what you told Levy."

"Juvia doesn't think there's anything wrong in telling Levy-san that Gajeel-kun is fond of bunnies." Juvia announced very loudly, rising her head with dignity, while Gajeel paled visibly. "Juvia is quite sure that everyone noticed it already. Besides, she thinks Gajeel-kun shouldn't be so rude after he had eaten all of Juvia's forks."

"I left you one..." the Dragon Slayer said with a very small voice. "You don't need more anyways."

"That's irrelevant to the matter at hand." Juvia told him coldly, looking down at him.

"How come he ate your forks, if you live in the girls' dorm?" Erza suddenly wanted to know.

"Uhm..." Juvia smiled broadly at Erza with dumbfounded expression. "We were on a picnic?"

"She just bought them," Gajeel said at the same time.

They looked at each other and winced. Gray raised a brow, mildly surprised.

"I was just mending the tap, okay?" Gajeel growled at Erza's direction.

"And why would the tap need mending?"

"Well..." Juvia started to fiddle with her hands. "Juvia sometimes pulls the water out of pipes without remembering to turn on the tap..."

"And, bang, it explodes," Gajeel explained. "Happens every time. You don't even imagine how many broken taps I've eaten already."

Erza scowled at both of them. They smiled with perfect innocence.

"Ehm, so anyway..." Gajeel chuckled. "Did you get that that evil thingy to the client?"

"That wasn't very diplomatic, Gajeel-kun," Juvia whispered, still glancing warily at Erza.

"I'm perfectly peaceful," Erza said, breathing deeply. "I'm not worked up at all."

"Are you like a lotus flower, Erza?" asked Happy.

"I'm like a lotus flower on the desert." Erza confirmed, closing her eyes. "There's nothing that can ruffle my tranquil petals."

There was a moment of silence, while everyone was waiting for Erza to explode.

It didn't happen, though. Gray let himself breathe again and continued to stitch the doll, determined to finish it before Juvia could notice.

"So, yes, Juvia met with the client," she told the Iron Dragon Slayer. "And she secured Gajeel-kun's new guitar money."

Natsu groaned. "You took this job to buy yourself a guitar?"

"Yup," Gajeel shrugged.

"What about you, Juvia?" Lucy asked.

"Juvia is buying new kitchen appliances!" the girl beamed brightly.

"My rent..." Lucy whined.

"Our food expenses..." Natsu complained, looking at Happy with sad expression.

"My clothes money..." Gray added.

They all looked at Erza with expectation.

"What?" she said.

"What did you want to do with the money?" Lucy asked.

"Ah..." To everyone's utter surprise, Erza looked down and blushed. "I don't want to talk about it," she said finally.

They just stared. What could she want? Probably something to do with girly things, Gray thought, or sexy things, or that Jellal guy. Or all of them at the same time – yeah, that seemed the most plausible. Maybe some super tiny lacy underwear (such as those almost translucent thingies Lucy always had scattered all over her apartment) – to wear in front of Jellal, or another bunny armor (she never had enough of those) – to wear in front of Jellal, or...

"It's not important, okay?" she said, looking at them with feigned anger. "Can we just eat?" She stuffed one of the fishes in her mouth, still blushing slightly and looking intently at fire.

"Right!" Natsu answered, following her lead. "It's a great idea, Erza."

Gray tore his gaze off Erza and wondered briefly if he should continue mending the doll - to get it over as fast as possible - or eat, not to look suspicious. It was too late already, though.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia said, and he raised his head to look in her terrified eyes, cursing inwardly. "What are you...?" She covered her mouth with her hands and came over to sit by him. "The – the..." she whispered, gently taking the plushie from his hands to examine its injuries. "What – how - "

"It's Salamander's fault," Gajeel announced in rather content tone. Juvia froze for a moment, then put a mascot back on Gray's lap and very slowly turned to look at Natsu.

"T-t-t-" She stuttered, her voice bursting with cold anger, darkness coming out of her. "How could you - " Natsu almost choked on his fish and jumped behind Lucy.

"I have nothing to do with it!" Lucy said quickly, smiling apologetically at fuming Juvia. "Natsu, get out of there," she whispered.

"Have some empathy, Lucy," the boy pleaded quietly. "She looks just like Erza when someone stomps at her cake."

Gray blinked. He had already seen Juvia's fury once and wasn't really keen on repeating the experience – especially that it was probably going to get them all wet. He stitched the rest of the tear as fast as he could and tapped the girl's arm. "Hey, Juvia," he said.

"Juvia is rather busy right now, Gray-sama," she growled, still squinting at Natsu.

"Yeah, but look," Gray tried again, waving the plushie in front of her eyes. "It's all right now. All like new."

She looked at him doubtfully and slowly took the doll from his hands. "But it has... a scar..." she complained, turning it around to have a good look.

"Oh, what's a scar, really," He tried to placate her. "All that matters is that he's alive and kicking." He coughed. "As much as a plushie can be, at least." he added quickly.

Juvia's face softened, but she still didn't seem entirely convinced.

"And I'm sure that Natsu will never touch any of your things, ever," he assured her, sending the other boy a death glare.

"I won't," the Fire Dragon Slayer said, smiling weakly from behind Lucy. "I swear. I'm sorry. Happy is sorry too."

"Aye!"

"You better," Juvia seethed, sending him another measuring look, which made both him and Lucy wince. "Natsu-san," she added thoughtfully.

Gray tensed, worried that it might have not worked, but then she just calmed down, pressing the plushie to her chest.

"Thank you, Gray-sama," she said softly.

"It's okay," he answered, exhaling in relief.

It seemed that he would finally get some rest.

* * *

><p>Yeah, so he had been tired then, and they had been with the group, and then in the train they also hadn't have a chance to talk, really, especially that she had been still taking care of Gajeel (although, when Erza went away for a moment, she did make a point of assuring him that Gajeel had been only passing through her room to<em>, <em>cough_,_ _borrow some books_ from Levy). And then he just went home, sit down and realized that if you knew someone loved you, but you didn't love them, you probably shouldn't give them ideas, like by, say, doing things like kissing them, maybe. Not to mention frolicking with them in the mud and stuff. And what if she thought (and she could think _all_ kinds of things, he knew) that it would actually lead to something? For most of this time he somehow managed to keep her at bay without much drama, but now, what if he fueled her hopes, what if with all that she'd be devastated when she realizes there was nothing behind it?

The part of him that was actually responsible for all this mess started to ponder if there really was nothing, but he quickly told it to shut up. Yeah, it was nice, the kiss and all, he won't deny it, but the whole concept behind it just made him uneasy. So he should probably go and talk with her, and tell her, tell her...

What the hell was he supposed to tell her?

"Hi Juvia, you remember that kiss we had? Yeah, so it didn't mean anything, don't get your hopes up." - sounded rather harsh, he thought.

"Hey, you know, I really like you and all, but I don't want anything more, even though I kissed you." - so why the hell did you do that, moron? Besides, probably he would get thrown to the ground just after "I like you" part.

"So we kissed and stuff, but can we still be friends regardless?" sounded lame, and...

…He couldn't think of anything better.

There should be some manual for that, seriously. Something like _Comprehensive handbook of friendzoning attractive girls _or _A companion to turning down your cute coworkers_ – he would gladly read it. Alternatively, the tiny voice in his head suggested, he could try _How to manage you girlfriend's crazy antics: the crash course, _but he decided to ignore it. There was no way he could have a relationship with Juvia – why not, the voice said, what's your problem, really? Maybe actually the best book for you would be _Dealing with emotional trauma for dummies_.

"Shut up," he said aloud, groaning. "Just shut up. It's not like that."

Yeah, despite of talking to himself, he still felt he was a rational individual and he had a right to make thoughtful decisions, and he just didn't want to be with her, okay? There was nothing wrong with it.

And no, he wasn't gay, he added before the voice could suggest him any other useful literature.

He decided that tomorrow he would just go to her and say something spontaneously, depending on how will the conversation go. That was a plan.

So, on Monday he went to the guild, but she wasn't there yet. He was waiting for her, but then he spotted this great job, that was well suited for him, and who would pass on something like that, right? So off he went, and it took him all day, and when he finished, he went straight home, because he was too tired to talk with her.

On Tuesday he thought of going to the guild, but then he remembered this pressing administrative business that he should have dealt with, like, month ago, so he decided there was no point waiting anymore and he should do this right away, and he would come to the guild later. But it took him most of the day, and then, of course, he was too tired.

On Wednesday he went straight to the guild determined to deal with the problem once and for all, but he spotted her from afar, chatting with Cana; and obviously, if Cana was there, he could not talk with Juvia, so he sat down when she couldn't see him but he could see her, and waited, and waited, and waited. But then he remembered it was this time of the year when he should go to the doctor to have his health checked, and he decided he would better do it today, because, hell, you couldn't take any chances with health, right?

On Thursday he realized he was utterly unable to talk to Juvia at all and he will never be, so he stayed home and brooded over that. Maybe there was something wrong with his brain that it couldn't formulate any useful words? But then, the doctor said everything was fine. He wondered if he should maybe change guild or something. Or go live in Ur's little cabin, where he would have to speak only to caribou.

On Friday he told himself it's pitiful and he has to do something with it, so he went to library and checked under _Friendzoning_, but, scandalously, there was nothing there (he also briefly looked under _Antics,_ but that was only out of sheer academic interests). Instead, by accident, he found that book about Ice Magic that he had wanted to read for, like, forever, so he skimmed through it, and it was _really_ interesting, and he didn't even noticed when did the whole day pass, seriously.

On Saturday he started to miss her, because, sure, he really liked her _as a friend_ and he kind of got used of her always being around, so he secretly followed her around the city, just to look at her. She went around buying some silly things like tons of flour or butterfly-shaped baking tray, and then she met up with _Erza _of all people, and they went into some scary, girly, totally pink-dreamy, flower-adorned shop, and sit there like, for hours, while he tried to process what could they be doing there and why would they even want it (he checked the shop later and it was full of wedding dresses, so he decided it's better not to ask). Then they split up (which was very relieving, because Erza was cautiously glancing sideways all the time) and Juvia roamed around for some time, looking a bit sad and not at all crazy, feeding ducks in the lake and some other pointless stuff. He told himself that technically _it could_ inspire him and bring to his mind something appropriate that he should say, and then, bang, he will just have her near to speak to her right away, and it will be over. But all that time his mind was blank, and then it was too late, since she got back to the dorm.

On Sunday he decided that he cannot go like that anymore: he will just write down something good and short, and he will be prepared. So he sat down with piece of paper, but first the vastness and emptiness of it paralyzed him, and second, whatever he wrote sounded so stupid or cliché or harsh or otherwise awkward, that he just got angry, froze all the paper and blew it up to tiny chunks.

But, actually, writing things down gave him some other idea. He left his room in the state of icy mess and sprinted through the city, straight to Lucy's place.

"Lucy!" Gray knocked decisively on her door. "Lucy!"

"What?" Lucy asked, opening it vigorously.

"Is Natsu here?"

"No," she answered, "So you can go look for him somewhere else and let me have a nice calm afternoon once in a while – Hey!"

"Good." Gray pushed the door further and went inside her apartment, throwing his jacket in a random direction.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked, hands on her hips. "Did you catch that habit of his? Is it contagious? Will I have the whole guild here? Can you at least not - "

"No, no," he assured her. "I don't think it's contagious - "

"At least don't take your clothes off. Other than that, the bed is free until ten, drinks are in the freezer and if you want to take a bath - "

"I just need your help," he interrupted her tirade, glancing at her uncomfortably. She was a good friend, yes, but even admitting that he had a problem in front of her was difficult.

"Uh," her face softened and her eyes glistened with curiosity. "Okay. What is it?"

"What do I say to Juvia?" he asked right away, tormented by all this days of mulling over that.

"What? How do_ I _know?"

"Well, you're a writer, no? You should be good with words," he answered hopefully, instinctively heading towards her kitchen, where he would have many great occasions not to look her in the eye.

Lucy groaned, but followed him. "But why do you need me to tell you what you should say? You didn't have problems speaking to her before."

"Well, but, uh, you know," he stammered, crouching in front of her freezer and looking into it intently. "You-know-what happened and I have no idea how to tackle this..."

"Wait, is that why you are hardly in the guild those days?" she asked, sitting on a counter. "You're avoiding her?"

"Uh, maybe."

"Gray!"

"What?" he turned to look at her. "Don't you have any meat?"

"Natsu ate everything already," she grumbled. "And what is this I-know-what you were talking about?"

Gray finally found some cheese and a sauce that looked promising, and started to assemble a sandwich. "Uh, you know, stuff," he answered, scratching his head.

"Gray, I have no idea what you mean," she said firmly, arms crossed on her chest. "And put some salad on that, it's like fat with mayonnaise."

What if she didn't remember? He would have to tell her... "I mean, the... the... Um..." he felt his face getting warmer despite all his efforts and looked at the window, barely noticing his shirt flying somewhere. "When we..."

"Ah, wait!" Lucy jumped off the counter. "You mean, when you kissed her?"

"Yeah, that," he said, sitting heavily on the nearest chair and biting angrily into his sandwich, her nutritional advice not included. "So what do I say?" he mumbled, chewing.

"Depends. What do you want of her?"

Gray shrugged, embarrassed. This, or that, or maybe something else. All this stupid days of not knowing what to say to her made him unable to decide. "Dunno," he said. "Just make up something."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Lucy tilted her head and looked at him a little bit too attentively to his liking.

He shrugged again, focusing on the texture of bread.

The girl looked at him in disbelief. "So I am to write a speech, but I have to guess myself what would Mr. Cryptic like to achieve with it?"

"Uhm..." He smiled at her weakly. "I'll owe you one?"

Lucy groaned, facepalming. He stared at her, worried that she'll refuse; he had no other ideas, maybe aside from the caribou. "Please, Lucy," he said quietly. "If you won't help me, I don't know who would."

"Fine, fine," she sighed finally, peeking at him from between her fingers. "I'll write you a few versions and you'll choose yourself." She turned on her heel and went to her room.

"Thanks!" he shouted after her, preparing another sandwich.

"No problem!" she shouted back. "Just do me a favor and at least keep your pants on."

* * *

><p>In the end, Lucy gave him five speeches. He started from throwing away the most soapy one ( <em>This wonderful event opened up my eyes to my feelings to you. I finally understood how much I love you and I want to be with you forever. <em>And more awful stuff like that. Blegh – how could anyone actually say any of those things? He didn't even manage to _read_ _it_ to the end.) and the most cold-hearted one ( _You shouldn't make anything of it, as I've got no feelings for you, and it's not prone to change. I would also appreciate it if you backed__down and gave me more space, since I'm thoroughly fed up with your pitiful advances._ At the bottom, in smaller letters, it said: _Additionally, I'm a total douchebag and Lucy is going to strangle me in my sleep_.). He was left with the three moderate ones, from which he quickly excluded the one which turned midway into a crime story (presumably Lucy just got bored with his stupid problems). He spent a lot of time scratching his head over the last two – they were both pretty acceptable, varying mostly between preserving the status quo and changing it into something vaguely more. Now that was really pain inducing - choosing between them would mean making some definite statements as to what the hell he actually wanted, so he just picked out some good sounding, but ambiguous enough sentences and scrapped the whole decisive part. Then he mulled over it again and crossed out half of what was left, because he would never manage to say so many things in one go. The rest, he thought, he should be able to pull off, so he got down to learn it by heart.

It took him most of the evening, but he started to feel pretty confident. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, he will just go straight to her and say all those wise sounding things, and everything will be fine again. He smiled to himself and started to think of taking a little walk before supper, when he heard somebody knocking on his door.

It was her, of course, what else could he expect. He felt a pang of nervousness seeing her on his doorstep like that, with those big, doe eyes, anxious expression, and a bunch of paper bags in her hands.

"Gray-sama," she said, "Juvia is sorry to disturb you."

"It's okay," he assured her. "You may come in, if you want to." He stepped back, letting her inside, and braced himself to perform the speech right away.

She didn't let him, though. "Juvia is so sorry," she said quickly. "Gray-sama must be mad at her for all that happened. Juvia brought Gray-sama gifts, to make amends." She gave him one of the bags.

"Um..." he hesitated, thrown off-balance completely. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you, Juvia?"

"Well..." Juvia's gaze fell to the ground. "First, it's because of Juvia that Gray-sama didn't manage to get his job done and get paid... Gray-sama said he needs money for new clothes, so she bought him some, and she hopes it will help a bit."

"You bought me clothes?" he asked in disbelief, peeking inside the bag. There was a pair of dark slacks and some shirts. At least they didn't look anything crazy. "Eh? You really shouldn't have..."

"But Juvia felt bad about it..." she said apologetically.

"I'll probably lose them pretty soon anyway," he tried to protest. "And it's not your fault, you just did your job."

"Juvia knows, but still," she raised her head to look him in the eyes."She'll be happy if Gray-sama accepts them."

"Um, okay, thanks" he said, determined to satisfy her wishes as much as he could. Now to the speech. "Listen - "

"It's not all," Juvia interrupted him, raising her hand as if to stop him. "Juvia is also very sorry that Gray-sama thought she tricked him to kiss her, and that he thought she's doing things purposefully to confuse him, and maybe Juvia didn't thank Gray-sama properly for mending her plushie, because she was angry at Natsu-san, and all that while Gray-sama was always only kind to Juvia, and she understands that Gray-sama doesn't want to speak to her anymore, and see her anymore, but she is so very sorry, she misses Gray-sama a lot and she wanted to ask him to at least consider if he could forgive her someday." Juvia panted slightly, trying to catch her breath.

"It's not..." he started, but she didn't let him.

"That's why," she continued, still breathing heavily, "Juvia brought also cookies, and a cake, and bread, and brioche, and she swears there isn't Gray-sama's face on any of that, and also she made a pasta, and jam, and chutney, and pickles," she said, giving him the other bags, one by one.

"Whoa, Juvia," he managed to say, slightly bending over the weight. "I don't even know what some of those mean. And it's... it's a lot."

"Juvia wanted Gray-sama to know that she's sorry, and she hopes he'll accept those gifts as an apology," she started to make little circles on the ground with her foot, looking down and puffing her cheeks like a bashful child.

"Juvia," he said, an waited till she raised her gaze to meet his. "I'm not mad at you. I never was, you took it all wrong - "

"Really?" her expression turned to hopeful disbelief. "Gray-sama is not mad?"

"Yeah," he assured her earnestly. "Really, and - "'

"Juvia is so happy!" she exclaimed and jumped at him, knocking him to the ground along with the countless bags.

"Eh?" he said, trying to free himself from the tangle of Juvia and her gifts, but she just nuzzled his shoulder and literally purred into him, throwing him into flustered paralysis.

"Eh, would you maybe, um..." he stammered, regaining some of his senses after a while.

"Ah! Sorry!" she sat up and looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, Gray-sama. Juvia was just so happy!"

"Yeah, it's okay," he murmured, managing to unravel himself from the gifts.

"Did you hit yourself, Gray-sama?" Juvia crawled behind him on all four and touched his head.

"Juvia!" he scolded her, leaning away.

"Sorry!" she blushed and started to fumble with the hem of her dress. "Please, don't be mad at Juvia."

"I'm not," he told her again. "I would never get mad for something like that." What was she thinking he was - and how could she think those things and still have such a crush on him?

Juvia looked at him doubtfully. "Gray-sama did, once..." she said quietly. "He said he didn't like Juvia, and other things..."

"I wasn't mad," he protested weakly. "And I never said I didn't like you, just _things."_ Oh yeah, that one went just great. He wondered if this time, after the speech he had to perform, he would also have to explain to everyone and their dog why was he such a dick.

"Uhm," she nodded, still looking unsure. "So will Gray-sama come to the guild tomorrow?"

"Yup."

"And he will not avoid Juvia anymore?"

"I won't..." He hesitated - he still didn't say what he had intended.

"Great!" she beamed. "Then Juvia will not disturb Gray-sama anymore," she said, getting up. "See you tomorrow - "

"Wait," he whispered, jumping on his feet and catching her arm to stop her. He knew he wouldn't stand another night of imagining that conversation, yet he was so nervous that he couldn't hold her gaze. "I wanted to tell you something."

"Yes?" she asked cautiously. He felt her tensing and let her arm go.

"It's about... about that kiss we..."

"Oh, this!" he glanced at her to see her clasping her hands in front of her and fidgeting excitedly. "It was so wonderful, Gray-sama!" She smiled brightly, blushing, and closed her eyes in total awe. "It was one of the happiest moments in Juvia's life!"

"Um..." he felt his voice stuck in his throat. What he wanted to do would be like telling a little child that Santa Claus didn't exist. "You know what, I don't really have anything to say," he said, pushing her gently outside the house. "See ya." He closed the door after her, pressed his back to it and brushed the sweat of his forehead, exhaling in relief.

He stood like that for a while, contemplating his cowardice, when she knocked softly on his door. "Uhm, Gray-sama?" she said hesitantly. "Juvia just wanted to say she didn't want to impose anything on Gray-sama, if he felt like that." She paused for a moment. "Juvia knows Gray-sama only kissed her because he thought she would tell him where the Statuette is, because there is no reason why he would do that otherwise. So she doesn't think that it's – oh," she squealed when he opened the door.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Why would you say there's no reason? I mean, you are great, why wouldn't I kiss you just because of that?" Her eyes opened wider with shock, and he realized what had he just said. He averted her gaze, feeling flush of blood to his face. But still, how could she say such a thing?

"Ah?" she gasped.

"I mean - " he muttered. "I mean, I just happen not... not to love you, but that doesn't mean there's no other reason, okay?"

"Umm..." Juvia stared intently at the ground. It seemed that she already did the turning down part of his speech by herself, but he could still use the cushioning the blow part.

"Like..." he started. "You have this generous personality and..." Lucy did a great job, he would never know how to call that by himself. "I really appreciate all the things that you do for me - "

"Juvia doesn't do that much..." she whispered.

"No, it's – a lot. You don't even know..." he clenched his jaw. "You are..." It was harder than he thought. "You're important," he mumbled quietly.

"Oh," Juvia looked up at him. "Really?"

"Yeah," He had a lot of speech left to go, but maybe that was enough already? It was so difficult to say all those things, he felt naked with that – like, normal person naked. The girl still seemed unsure of herself, though. "I know that..." he swallowed. "I won't have many people in my life that would... would love me and - "

"Oh? But Gray-sama had a lot of people that loved him," she said. Why did she had to interrupt him? It was hard enough without addressing her doubts. "Gray-sama's mother and father, and Ur-sama, and Lyon-sama, and Juvia."

"Eh... And that's a lot?" Gray asked stupidly.

Juvia just looked at him for a while, frozen. Then she blinked and it seemed as if some switch in her mind got flicked and all the light in her eyes vanished.

"Juvia..?" he asked softly. "Juvia!" he called her, when she turned on her heel and went away from him. Gray stood motionless for a moment, unable to understand what's going on, then he ran after her into the gloomy dusk. "Juvia," he said, catching her by the arm.

She tensed instantly, curtain of hair covering her face. "Let Juvia go," she said in a voice he did not know.

He hesitated, loosening his grip. "But... Don't go away," he pleaded. "What's wrong? I don't even know."

"Nothing," the strange voice answered.

"I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "I don't know what happened, but I'm sorry anyway. I didn't want that."

Juvia exhaled slowly, bowing her head. "It's just that..." she told him, barely louder than a whisper. "Nobody_ ever_ loved Juvia. And Gray-sama was just speaking about it like... it didn't matter to him what he had.. and..."

_Of course._ He should have thought that this might be the case. "Uh... That's... I... I'm stupid, sorry." he remembered part of another speech that would fit. "I'm a total douchebag," he told her. _And Lucy will strangle me in my sleep._"But... It's not true, either. At the very least, you must have had parents too. Everyone has them."

"Juvia's parents didn't want her," she said in a stifled voice.

"You just don't know that," he protested.

"Juvia knows."

How was he going to argue with that? "And what about Lyon?" he asked against himself. "He said he loved you."

"How could he love Juvia, if he didn't even know her?"

"Eh? But isn't it the same, like, you know..." he hesitated. What he wanted to say probably wouldn't be very helpful.

"Like what?" she wanted to know.

"Like between you and me?" he asked quietly.

She turned her head to glance at him over her shoulder, disbelieving. "How can you say such a thing, Gray-sama?" she said. Then she shook her head and moved away from him.

"Hey," he called, going after her. "Wait. Did I insult you somehow? It wasn't my - "

She turned rapidly, almost causing him to bump into her. "Gray-sama," she said seriously, and her eyes shimmered with pain. He understood that was another Juvia, the one he rarely seen, sad, tired, lonely Juvia – the rain itself. "You may not love Juvia, but don't ever say that Juvia doesn't love you." She resumed her walk.

But that was not really the point, was it. "I, uh," he stuttered, falling into step after her. Whatever he was saying was only making things worse – what was he to do?

He wanted that sad, strange Juvia to get healed, to be as happy as her normal, cheerful persona. He felt she did deserve to be loved. Hell, maybe even _he _should try to love her – but then, probably loving someone wasn't something you could just try. Things he felt for her seemed so complex, he couldn't even grasp them himself, but he wanted, he really wanted to tell her what they were. How was he to make translation from his inner world to human language? It seemed not to fit into any words he knew.

"Sometimes I..." he started. There wasn't any speech that would help him with _that_. "No, often... Usually." He coughed, embarrassed. "I mean, I just don't, you know... don't want you to be unhappy," he said quietly.

Juvia stopped to look at him with dark amusement. "Gray-sama has really impressive way of saying things." Her voice brimmed with irony.

"Uh," Gray looked away, messing with his hair. "I know, right? I was even wondering if my brain-voice cords connection is intact."

Juvia chuckled softly. It was good, he thought, if she wanted to laugh at him, everything to get her out of this mood.

"Actually," he told her earnestly, "I was avoiding you for the whole week because I didn't know what to say."

"Ah," she said. "It's not very wise, Gray-sama."

"Yeah. And..." he hesitated. "I even asked Lucy to write a speech for me."

"Gray-sama is talking to Juvia with Lucy's words?" she tilted her head.

"Uhm, no... not really, not all of them... But some..."

"If Juvia wanted to talk with Lucy, she would go to Lucy." She scolded him.

"But I was... I didn't know, because you... um, I mean, because I... and the, the - " he groaned, irritated at himself. "You see?" he told her, looking at her exasperatedly.

She smiled slightly at his misery. "But it's okay, Gray-sama," she said, and he felt the usual Juvia glimmered through the dreary one. "You are what you are, what else would you be?" she told him warmly, touching his arm, and something inside him melted over this display of simple acceptance. " And this," she said, pulling his pants from the nearby branch and giving them to him.

"Oh," he gasped. How did it happen? "Thanks," he said weakly.

She nodded and started walking again. He put his pants back on and caught up to her. "You know," he told her. "Sometimes I..." he hesitated.

"Or maybe often..." Juvia teased, glancing at him with a barely suppressed smile.

"You," he warned her mockingly, elbowing her gently. She giggled, filling him with relief. "Fine," he said, crossing arms on his chest and looking demonstratively at the sky. "If you don't want to listen, I won't tell you."

"Oh no, tell Juvia," she pleaded, tongue-in-cheek.

"I won't say a word," he repeated stubbornly.

"Will Gray-sama pick up his toys and go to a different sandbox?" Juvia elbowed him back, pushing him out of his path.

"Hey," he protested, but he couldn't keep his face straight anymore and let himself smile broadly. "No, really, I just wanted to say sometimes I don't understand you _at all," _he managed.

Juvia glanced at him, turning back to being serious. "Gray-sama thinks," she said carefully, "that he should understand everything. Because he believes everything is like his magic, that is thought up and has a specific shape. But it's not."

Gray looked at her doubtfully. "Is it the whose-magic-is-better argument?"

"It's more like the sea," she continued, undisturbed. "Ever-changing, and uncontrollable, and too vast to grasp with mind."

"Eh, so it is that," he muttered. "But basically," he asked, studying her face. "You're saying I don't have to understand you?"

Juvia nodded. "Yes," she said simply.

"But I'd like to."

She shuddered in the evening chill. "Maybe Gray-sama shouldn't try to understand everything _with his mind,_that's what Juvia means."

Gray sighed. "I'll try," he promised.

They both went silent for a moment.

"Anyway, where are we going?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" she shrugged, glancing sideways at him.

And it didn't, really, since they were good again. Her presence at his side seemed somehow warm – in a good way, though – and he knew the sad Juvia was fading away. The happy one would probably soon come back with some vivid, elaborate and not-the-most-decent theory as to why were they alone in the park at this hour, but he felt he could cope with that – those things sorta started to become part of his everyday routine.

And maybe, he thought, one day both Juvias – the sad, broken one and the happy, loving one - would merge into one girl. Maybe one day he would understand her, by whatever means she wanted to be understood. Maybe all the tangled threads in him would unravel, complex things turning into simple ones, and he won't be confused anymore.

And maybe he would find a language in which to speak with her.

He just didn't know.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note<strong>: Thanks for reading! Feedback is welcome :)


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